


With a Little Help from My Friends

by Rubyleaf



Category: Carole & Tuesday (Anime)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Obliviously Smitten Carole and Tuesday, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Outsider, Roddy is all of us, Shipper on Deck, Wingman Roddy, Written after Episode 5 so no promises for sticking to canon after that, sometimes you just gotta let your girls do romantic stuff until they get it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 17:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18815407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubyleaf/pseuds/Rubyleaf
Summary: As their first fan, it's only natural that Roddy is the first to figure out Carole and Tuesday are in love. And when they don't seem to act on it themselves, what's a boy to do except nudge them in the right direction?





	With a Little Help from My Friends

When it comes to Carole and Tuesday, Roddy takes pride in being first.

The first to watch their first performance. The first to record them and upload their video on the net. The first to support them when they’re complete nobodies. The first to get them their first official gig. Their very first fan.

The first to notice that they’re completely, hopelessly in love with each other.

To be fair, with the way they look at each other, it’s kind of obvious. Their song lyrics? Even more obvious. Roddy has worked with people long enough to recognize a smitten girl when he sees one, and these two go beyond smitten; they utterly adore each other to the point where it’s almost painful to watch.

There’s just one problem. They don’t seem to act on it. Whatsoever.

They’re close, and they’re affectionate, and they’re flirty from time to time, but that’s it. They’re also completely, utterly, soul-crushingly platonic. Almost like they’re scared of overstepping a boundary, or worse… like they’re not aware of their own feelings at all.

Roddy loves these girls with all his heart. He’s their fan, but he’s also their friend. He wants them to be happy, and if he catches them making heart eyes at each other and doing nothing one more time he’s going to lose his mind.

So, naturally, what’s a guy to do?

—

“Nervous?” Carole asks Tuesday as they’re waiting backstage before a gig.

Tuesday takes a shaky breath, nodding but smiling. “Yeah, a little,” she says. “I thought I’d be more used to it by now, but…”

“Me too, actually.” Carole cracks a grin and holds out her hand for Tuesday to feel. “See? I’m shaking a bit.”

“No way! You look so calm!”

“That’s all fake. Fake it till you make it.”

The girls laugh. Roddy can’t bear the sight. Even standing a few feet away he feels like a third wheel.

“Why don’t you go outside for a bit?” he suggests.

They turn around to blink at him. “Outside?”

“Yeah, this place has quite a view. You can see the whole city and the stars.” Roddy points towards the door. “It might help you calm down.”

Carole looks at Tuesday. Tuesday looks at Carole. They look very much inclined to take up the offer.

Glancing down at her watch, Carole frowns. “It’s almost time,” she says. “Won’t we be late if we go now?”

Roddy shakes his head, cracking a small smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll call you when it’s time.”

“Then let’s hurry!” Tuesday takes Carole’s hand. “I want to see the view!”

In their full stage outfits they hurry towards the door and disappear out of sight. In the doorframe Carole briefly stops and gives Roddy a grin. “Thanks a bunch, you’re a lifesaver!”

Roddy smiles back. And waits.

When they return a few minutes later, they look visibly calmer and happier, but it doesn’t seem like anything changed between them.

—

“Carole?” Tuesday’s voice calls through the apartment. “Carole, are you here?”

The door opens, and a familiar face pokes into the living room where Roddy sits curled up on the couch, searching for music video locations. “Roddy, have you seen Carole anywhere?”

Roddy shakes his head. “Isn’t she still out working?”

Tuesday glances at the clock and her face falls. “Oh! You’re right,” she says. “It’s just, I’m stuck on the lyrics and—oh, maybe you can help me!”

Before Roddy can say anything she’s already flopped down next to him on the couch, shoving a stack of paper into his face. The pages are chock-full of scribbles, often messy and in many parts crossed out.

“I’m trying to tell our stories a bit in this one,” she says. “I’ve got mine, but I’m having trouble with Carole’s bit… and the chorus. It has to fit us both, but I can’t find the right words…”

Taking the paper from her hands, Roddy squints, trying to make out the lyrics. There are multiple versions of many parts, he notes. There is also no title.

“It’s like a duet,” he muses after some thinking.

Tuesday blinks at him. “All our songs are duets.”

“Yeah, but this is like the musical number kind.” Roddy gestures at the scribbles. “You sing your part, Carole sings hers, they’re not related to each other yet, and then in the chorus you both come together.” He pauses, and then, not without hidden intentions, he adds, “Reminds me of a love duet.”

Glancing up, he looks at Tuesday’s face, gauging her reaction. Tuesday thinks very hard. Then her face lights up. “I think I got it! Thanks, Roddy!”

The next morning Roddy finds the lyrics finished on the table and the girls asleep on the couch. They look like they stayed up most of the night, but otherwise everything looks much the same. The song has a title now. It’s called  _Kiss Me_.

Roddy has no idea what to make of it.

—

“Psst! Roddy,” Carole calls him over when Tuesday disappears to the bathroom.

He looks up in curiosity and is met with one of the most serious, anxious looks he’s ever seen on Carole’s face. Hope spikes. “What’s up?”

Carole leans in, lowering her voice even further as if afraid of Tuesday overhearing from the bathroom. “D’you have any idea what flowers Tue likes?” she whispers.

Roddy only has a vague idea of what’s going on, but he whispers back anyway. “No clue,” he says. “Why don’t you ask her directly?”

“I can’t! That would spoil the surprise,” Carole hisses in some frustration. “Just, her birthday’s coming up and we have a gig that night, so I thought I’d give her a bouquet at the end. Like at a big concert, you know?”

Roddy’s eyes go round. He thinks for some time. “Maybe go by flower meanings?”

Carole stares at him, wide-eyed, and he can tell she’s up for the idea. “Flower language?”

“Yeah. Use flowers to tell her… whatever you’d like to tell her.”

“I gotcha!” Carole says as she already pulls out her phone to look up flower meanings, only to hide it in a split second when Tuesday returns from the bathroom.

On Tuesday’s birthday night Carole gives her a huge bouquet and a hug onstage, but Roddy notes with disappointment that none of the flowers mean more than friendship and gratitude.

—

It’s a very romantic place to shoot their newest video. Of course it is. Carole and Tuesday loved it from the get-go, and naturally Roddy did everything in his power to get them a permission to shoot here. The atmosphere is fantastic, the sunset behind them the perfect shade of pink.

And yet, as the day draws to a close, frustration spreads.

“I don’t like this take,” Carole says, plopping down on the grass under the trees in full bloom. “How do I put it… it’s boring.”

Tuesday sits down beside her. “I get it,” she says. “The atmosphere’s great, but it feels like we should do more than just stand and sing, right?”

Carole nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, yeah! You get it!”

Gus shrugs from behind the camera. He doesn’t seem to have any ideas for what to do.

“You could dance together,” Roddy muses, only half serious.

The girls blink at him, suddenly zooming in with their full attention. Then they slump again. “But we already do so much dancing,” says Tuesday.

“But not in the pair dancing way,” Roddy answers and immediately wonders if he’s been too bold.

Carole, however, sits up straight. “That sounds fun!” she exclaims and then, immediately, “Ah, but I don’t know any pair dances…”

“Me neither,” Tuesday replies. “But we can improvise!” And before Carole can say anything she takes her hand and pulls her up to her feet.

What follows is a lot of hand-holding, a lot of picking each other up and spinning around, and a lot of holding each other close and gazing into each other’s eyes as they make their careful circles across the grass. The last take ends with them butting their foreheads together as the sun disappears behind the horizon for the night.

They stay together like that for a moment after the camera is off, then, as if returning to reality, they abruptly let go and burst into a fit of very flustered giggles.

“That was fun!” Carole says while not looking at Tuesday.

“Let’s do it again!” Tuesday answers without looking at Carole.

They’re suspiciously pink for the rest of the evening, and for the first time Roddy feels like they actually made some progress.

—

Carole kisses Tuesday at the end of their first big performance, and the crowd goes wild.

In the first row, forgetting that he’s still holding his phone in recording more, stands Roddy. There are tears of joy on his face.

“Finally!” he shouts over the cheer of the crowd. “Took you long enough!”


End file.
